The Gamification of Fountain Pen Collecting
A little while ago, the Penfount Mastodon account posted a question: "Why do so many of us struggle with overconsumption in this or other hobbies? Why is it so easy and appealing to “follow the shiny” when we see something on Instagram, vendor newsletter, etc.? What are some ways to combat this tendency?"
I answered saying, "I think the release schedule for lots of brands/retailers is constant and kind of unrelenting. It stokes some people's tendency to impulse buy. I've been forcing myself to take several days to think about whether that new release is really something I want, or something that piqued my impulse buy sense, and can be just as easily forgotten a few days later. If I'm still thinking about an item days later, then I put it on my wish list to maybe purchase later."
It wasn't until I wrote that post that it really dawned on me, at least consciously, that that was the difference between fountain pens and my other hobbies/interests like photography and gadgets or electronics.
I am naturally a novelty seeker. I have been a tech early adopter in the past and still have that tendency (though it's tempered now that companies are more often launching absolute dud products 🙄), which led me to really get into acquiring new gadgets or camera gear. But when I got into fountain pens that acquiring tendency was accelerated, and at first I didn't question it because I had the disposable income and was new to the hobby of collecting and using fountain pens. I wanted to try everything out. There were lots of affordable pens to buy from different manufacturers, so I did. Eventually there was a little bit of a slowing down when I became more intentional about what I bought for my collection and wanted to use. I wrote previously about my focus on different nibs. I thought about what I wanted to experience with fountain pens, what brands I wanted to have represented in my collection, etc., and started to match what I purchased to the goals I had for my collection.
And yet...my compulsion to buy new and shiny pens is one that I have to fight all the time, constantly. I'm still a relative newbie in the hobby, I think, so I haven't gotten completely jaded by new releases, and haven't reached a comfort level with my collection such that I don't have to fight my impulses to buy the next new pens from brands X, Y, and Z. It wasn't until I answered the Penfount question that it really clicked why this felt different from my desires to buy new gadgets and camera gear: fountain pen release cycles are relentlessly frequent. Gadget, camera, and even toy manufacturers don't have such quick turnarounds for new products, relatively speaking. Across the hundreds of brands and independent makers out there, there is a constant stream of new stuff to get infatuated with all the time. Not only that, but much of the marketing for these products really know how to make people feel the FOMO...hard.
Now, I know that for smaller makers, they can't produce fountain pens at the same scale of big manufacturers. And certain pens made by both big and small manufacturers are limited due to availability of the artisan materials used. So a lot of special pens have to be limited editions by default, which I totally understand. But I think there are other fountain pens and inks being made in artificially limited quantities specifically to stoke that FOMO fire and boost sales, which I have mixed feelings about.
Of course, I know that some of what makes collecting fountain pens exciting is to have rare items that you worked hard to find and acquire. The hunt can be a huge part of the fun. But when everything is "limited edition" and you're competing to buy things whenever there's another "drop", this gets overwhelming and can easily cause disillusionment and burnout, which I've observed crop up every now and again in the fountain pen community. People realize they've gotten caught up in so much acquisition that they don't end up using and enjoying their collection, and might even get into financial trouble because of it.
Why did I mention gamification in my post title? Well, a lot of the tactics I observe in fountain pen marketing reminds me of the strategies that gaming companies, particularly mobile gaming companies, use to maintain their players' engagement, sometimes to the players' detriment.
Constant Events
A lot of mobile games have these never-ending schedules of events where for each season, certain characters in a game are available, or you can earn rare customizations for your game character, earn special weapons, etc. If you don't play every day, you might miss out on special rewards.
This relentless cycle of new content to keep gamers regularly engaged reminds me a lot of the cycle of new product releases from fountain pen manufacturers to keep customers regularly buying. If you're a completionist, you might be compelled to buy every color of a particular pen model. This can be kind of a big problem if you're a Sailor, Kaweco, LAMY, or TWSBI fan, as those brands tend to have lots of releases of "reskinned" pens, to use gaming terminology, not to mention cross-brand collaborations. Also, if you don't keep an eye on a brand's socials, you might miss out on an exclusive drop that sells out in minutes. And this can happen at a regular and frequent rate across multiple brands.
Mystery Boxes and Gacha
Many mobile games have gacha elements to earn rewards, similar to buying blind boxes for physical toys or other collectibles. One can spend a lot trying to complete a collection.
I recently saw on Pen Chalet that Tono and Lims released a Lotto ink line where you cannot choose what ink you get; it's specifically a gacha-style pick. Yes, this can be fun surprise if you're not invested in collecting every ink, but if you're a completionist... I guess pony up the money to keep trying to get all the inks, or try trading with friends?
There are also different retailers putting together mystery boxes of fountain pens, inks, accessories, and stationery that seem like a pretty good deal, but unless you absolutely like everything in it, you're going to be stuck with items that you'll have to do something with (maybe swap or sell at a pen meetup or similar). And of course, Diamine's popular Inkvent Advent calendar (and Colorverse's recent Colorvent) is a prominent example of getting ~25 inks that you may or may not like or use, "...but lots of people buy these calendars and post daily ink reveals which is really fun, so I might as well, too, right?"
Don't get me wrong: I actually like the act of opening a new ink every day and discovering what it is, even if I don't ultimately like it. I've done it 3 years in a row now. But there's no question that I did not like every ink. Last year I wondered if I should skip Inkvent because I already had 50 Inkvent bottles from the previous years, none of which were even close to being used up. And yet as a collector, it feels wrong to swap away inks I don't like because I'd be breaking up the sets. 🤦♀️
And as for mystery box-type things, I've previously subscribed to the Stickii Club and had fun getting lots of different stickers and other stationery items, but after a while I realized it was kind of piling up and I wasn't absolutely enamored by everything I got, which tarnished the shine of the whole idea and led to my unsubscribing. FYI, you can buy past sticker packs and individual sheets from their site, which is probably a better deal as far as getting what you want.
Points and VIP Programs
A lot of mobile games offer rewards for regular engagement, whether in the form of accumulated points, maintained daily streaks, or subscription to a VIP program. Some of these concepts aren't strictly from mobile gaming; games probably copied retailer points and VIP programs, rather than the other way around, but both use them now.
There's a behavioral psychology phenomenon called the Zeigarnik Effect where people remember unfinished tasks better than completed tasks. Knowing you have reward points that you haven't redeemed yet could become an uncompleted task that can bug you from the back of your mind. It's very easy to get caught up in accumulating points to get to your next reward, whether it's a discount or an actual "free" item in rare scenarios.
A tangent of this idea is fountain pen influencers having affiliate or discount codes that ultimately encourage them to recommend certain retailers because they get rewards that way. This is related to "social proof", another behavioral psychology concept that mobile apps and games use to influence players to take certain actions, similar to word-of-mouth advertising. In this case, it's the influencers who rack up points they can use towards their own purchases for advertising for the brands they work with, but users of the affiliate codes can also get discounts. I'm not saying this is bad. It pays for retailer advertising through the influencers, and customers get discounts. I'm merely pointing out that it is a mechanism through which retailers encourage more purchasing, when maybe someone might not purchase as often if they didn't have this mechanism to lean on.
Ways to Deal With FOMO and All the Rest
I have a few ways I try to resist impulse fountain pen purchases. YMMV.
- Track your fountain pen purchases, including inks and accessories
The last couple years I recorded my purchases as part of my memory keeping/journaling because I wanted to have a history of pen purchases, like when did I first buy a pen from such-and-such brand, or which model did I buy when? I also ended up including inks, nibs, and whatever else. At first I was handwriting this in a notebook, but later I built up a Notion database (though you could do a simple spreadsheet) for my fountain pen purchases to easily slice and dice the data in different ways. Things got real when I entered prices and summed them all up. 😅
Last year, I purchased a lot of ink samples because I wanted to try all the inks. 😆 Because they were relatively small purchases here and there, it didn't seem that bad. But seeing how often I purchased samples, and how much they ultimately cost over the full year...well, that was eye-opening.
Knowing how much you spend on certain things can help you make adjustments if, say, you want to instead focus on pens from indie makers, or purchase that grail pen this year and need to cut back on purchases of multiple inexpensive pens from bigger brands, for example. Or it could show you where you spend the most and help you realize that that is what makes you happy, so maybe you could focus on buying that stuff rather than other stuff you're meh about.
You could even take a smaller step and make a note of purchases without the prices to at least have a record of what you bought that you can reflect on and see if it generally made you happy, or if there were items that, if you had to do it over again, probably wouldn't have purchased. It's good to reflect on the past to help inform your present and future. - Set a compelling reason for doing a no-buy or low-buy period
It's tough to limit your purchasing if you don't have a good reason to, other than maybe you feel guilty for spending so much. What is the outcome you want to have? It could be as simple as realizing that while you really like your fountain pen collection, you have so many that you can't easily use them all, so you have to pull back on purchases and be more intentional. There could also be other tough reasons to adjust your spending habits that you'll have to analyze and contend with.
It's more effective to establish an intrinsic motivation to do something rather than relying on outside pressures, because the internal motivations align with your personal values and are ultimately more satisfying to accomplish. - Unsubscribe from marketing e-mails and limit browsing brand websites and socials
This one's kind of straightforward: ignorance (of sales and new items to buy) is bliss. 😆 Personally, I know this is an effective tactic, but the newshound in me fights the idea of completely unsubscribing and forgoing brand and maker socials. Even though it does make it harder for me to resist wanting to buy stuff, I still want to be in the know so I can participate in conversations or post about them on my blog if I'm so inclined.
If I'm lucky, the shiny new thing being advertised doesn't appeal to me, and therefore isn't a temptation. But often I have to contend with feeling compelled to buy something new and tamping down the impulse, which leads me to the next tactic... - Have fun putting things in shopping carts, but not completing the purchase
I do this a lot, adding a few things to cart and then waiting several days to purchase, if I purchase at all. I know this infuriates online retailers to no end, though, because I think there are metrics around purchase completion and stuff like that, so I'm sorry about that! I know my impulsive tendencies and use this method of delayed gratification to weed out things I really do want from shiny distractions that, with the benefit of hindsight, aren't really something I want. - Shop your own stash
This is a common concept among fountain pen and stationery enthusiasts, especially since we tend to have products archived, waiting for the "perfect" time to be used. Just use your stuff. Why have it if not to use it? I guess if you have the room to store all this stuff for the long-term and really don't want to use them, then have at it. Some things are collectibles, but a lot of fountain pen and stationery items are made to be used, and not using them could be thought of as "disrespectful" to their purpose. One thing I love about fountain pen collecting is that the pens are functional pieces of art. It can make you feel happy and lucky to use a beautiful work of art that also has utility. Help your collection fulfill its purpose! - Shop your friends' stashes
A great thing about the fountain pen hobby is the community built around it. In more cases than not, people who collect fountain pens are more than happy to talk about them and share their collection, whether that means loaning out pens, swapping ink samples, or creating a healthy secondary market for pens and inks.
It is pretty nice that if you do need to sell your fountain pens for whatever reason, you'll probably find buyers more easily than for other collectors' items. So maybe ask around if someone wants to part with a pen or ink you want. Or join a group doing ink swaps or letter writing (so you can use up your ink library). Enjoy (and contribute to!) the generosity of the fountain pen community.
So What Do You Think?
As I mentioned above, I don't always have full control over my impulses to buy fountain pens, inks, and assorted accessories. I try my best to recognize the gamification and other marketing tactics retailers employ and do what I can to counter them. It's tough when new products are always available, tempting us.
Of course, I don't begrudge retailers trying to sustain their businesses. Without them, we won't have any awesome pens, inks, and whatnot to collect! But I do wish that maybe the relentless drive of new product releases could settle down to something more sustainable long-term (it can't be easy for these companies to continually develop new products). I'm in fountain pen collecting for the long-haul and would like to see the artisan makers and big manufacturers of the present stick around for the foreseeable future, too.
What are your coping strategies? Are there other gamification tactics I didn't cover, or you think might be the next thing that retailers start using? I'd love to continue the conversation here, or on Mastodon or Bluesky.
